


There's Nobody But You

by brokenhighways



Series: Librarian!Jensen [6]
Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Library, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Timestamp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-08
Updated: 2016-02-08
Packaged: 2018-05-19 05:13:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5954896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brokenhighways/pseuds/brokenhighways
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jensen wonders if it’s normal to long for something that he already has.</p>
            </blockquote>





	There's Nobody But You

**Author's Note:**

> Wow. Apparently I last updated this verse three years ago, lol. I found half of a timestamp in a folder somewhere and decided to give it an ending. Unbeta'd. Apologies for any mistakes.

Jensen is sitting behind his desk at the library, listening as one of the regulars rabbits on about the book he'd taken out. Technically, his shift ended ten minutes ago, but Jared is running late so he stopped to help Mr Robinson locate a new book and return his old ones. He's nodding and humming in the right places but the second Jared walks in, Jensen's attention is gone. He's focused on Jared completely. By the time he remembers to turn back to Mr Robinson, the man is shooting a wink at him and saying his goodbyes.

"Is that my competition?" Jared asks while Jensen is shrugging his jacket on and slinging his bag across his shoulders. "Because I would totally kick his ass in a fight." Jensen shakes his head fondly and leans up to give Jared a quick kiss. Jared's grinning when Jensen pulls back, and while Jensen would be extremely happy if all of that mirth was for him, he knows that Jared is really buzzing about seeing his baby girl in her first school play. Jensen is too, of course, he loves Aimee like she's his own, but sometimes he is all too aware that she isn't his.

That if he and Jared ever part ways one day, he'd have no stake in her life anymore.

"Are you okay?" Jared asks as they're getting into his truck. Jensen throws Jared a small smile and nods.

+

Days later, Jensen is still caught up thinking about the whole thing. It's not just Aimee that he doesn't want to lose, it is Jared too. He doesn't want to live without them. Chris catches him looking for rings. He's still not sure if marriage is what he needs to feel secure, not sure if Jared even _wants_ to get married. Proposing to Sarah, and that entire relationship had left Jared with some preconceptions about _every_ relationship. Sometimes Jensen just wants to grab Jared, shake him and say, _I'm not going anywhere._ And well, now that Jensen thinks about it, nothing says that like a proposal, right?

Of course, in the midst of all of this Aimee comes home one day and announces that mommy has a big, shiny ring on her finger. Jared is less than impressed, and he spends the rest of the afternoon trying to get the full story from Aimee. That's kind of hard to do when all she wants to do is talk about her trip to the Build-A-Bear Workshop. Jensen tries to tell himself that Jared's just curious about this guy who's suddenly going to be in their lives on a more permanent basis. But he can see the way Jared's eyes have narrowed and the way his mouth tightens. Aimee seems oblivious though she doesn't argue when Jensen suggests that she goes and plays in her room for a while.

"She's only been dating this Jackson guy for six months,” Jared says when Jensen looks at him. “That is not long enough for them to decide that they want to spend the rest of their lives together. I wouldn’t be surprised if he wakes up one day to find her gone. Maybe she’ll leave a note this time around.”

“Is that why you’re so angry?” Jensen says. “Because when you were ready to propose, she didn’t want to know.”

“No,” Jared says, but his voice has lost the edge it had before. “I just don’t want it to affect Aimee. It took her two years to realise that she wanted her own daughter to be a part of her life.”

“And she’s been around for four years; maybe we ought to cut her some slack.” Jared is close to rolling his eyes but he doesn’t. While Jensen thinks it’s admirable that Sarah takes Aimee over the weekends, Jared’s never been quite as impressed. Sure, Sarah can be flaky at times but she’s still here. That’s got to count for something, right?

“It doesn’t.”

“Well, why not?”

“Because when you have a child, you can’t afford to be _flaky_ ,” Jared says, voice rising as he becomes visibly annoyed. “I wish that you could understand, but I have cut her more than enough slack over the past four years.” Jensen does his best to not let Jared’s words upset him.

Jared’s pissed off, that’s all.

“Look we’ll discuss with Sarah when she comes over on Friday.”

“Oh, she won’t be around over the next two weeks. Business trip or something. Apparently our plans don’t matter as much as hers do.”

Jensen doesn’t know what to say to that.

+

Jensen has met up with Sarah on his own many, many times over the years. Usually, he goes under the guise of picking Aimee up. This time, he goes to see her at her office. She is on her way to lunch but she frowns when she catches sight of him.

“Oh. Jensen, hi!” Jensen smiles at her half-heartedly. “What can I do for you?”

“I wanted to talk to you about next weekend,” Jensen replies, cutting straight to the chase. “Jared and I had plans…”

“I’m sorry,” she says as she beckons for him to follow him out of the doors. “I tried my best to rearrange it but I couldn’t exactly tell my boss about Aimee.” Jensen frowns at that. Sarah works for some PR firm, and while Jensen assumes that it can be a pretty cutthroat line of work, he’s sure that there’s no law that says you can’t have kids.

“Why not?” he asks.

“Look, it’s hard enough being in a senior role, if they find out that I have a child everything will be different,” Sarah says as she strolls into the restaurant a few feet away from her office building. Jensen follows blindly, mentally processing what she’s saying to him. “I love Aimee to death but I have worked my ass off to be where I am today. I’m doing my best.” Jensen understands what she’s saying but he can’t help thinking about what Jared had said about parents having a responsibility to their children.

“Jared doesn’t see it that way,” he says after Sarah’s placed her order. “He thinks that you’re taking advantage.”

“Jared’s never forgiven me for leaving, so that doesn’t surprise me and I can’t let it affect me anymore,” Sarah says tiredly. “He doesn’t even have the guts to take his issues up with me himself.”

“Actually, he doesn’t know that I’m here,” Jensen snaps. “He’s making an effort with you, Sarah. He works full time, and still manages to find time for his daughter. You might think that it’s been too long since you walked out, but shit like that leaves scars behind. If you want him to forgive you, you need to work for it.”

“I’ll see what I can do, okay?” she says. “I need to call him this week anyway, I have some news about Jackson.”

“Aimee already spilled the beans.”

“Shit, Jared’s pissed at me isn’t it? Is that why you’re here? Are you pre-mediating again?”

She sounds so genuinely freaked out that Jensen can’t help chuckling.

“Just…try and see things from his view when you talk to him, okay?”

+

The next two weeks go by and Jensen doesn’t hear a word about Sarah from Jared, except a brief conversation about her call. Even though Sarah’s engagement took the wind out his sails momentarily, Jensen finds that he stills wants to make some kind of official commitment to Jared. And, hey, so what? He’s always been a romantic. Everyone knows that. Surely something like this has been a matter of _when_ and not _if_.

_To you maybe,_ his conscience tells him unhelpfully.

Still, after a long couple of hours of thinking – the intense kind where he loses himself so deeply that he barely hears when Jared gets back with Aimee – he can’t quite forget the notion. Unfortunately, there’s no blanking out six-year-old jumping on top of the couch he happens to be sitting on.

“Everything okay?” Jared asks once he drops his keys on the stand and toes off his shoes. “I called you a couple of times.” His brow furrows, the way it does when he’s trying to size Jensen up. Jensen smiles easily.

“I’m good,” he replies. “Just tired. Had a couple of minor emergencies at the library.”

Jared lets out a mock gasp. “Let me guess – a couple of books from the crime section tried to stage an elaborate escape?” He’s momentarily distracted by Aimee grabbing his phone but he still takes the time to roll his eyes fondly, even shakes his head a little.

“Your humour is getting so much better,” he says. “Have you considered stand-up?”

“The world isn’t ready for my awesomeness yet.”

This time, Jensen laughs.

Aimee looks up and asks, “What’s stand up?”

Jared casts a glance at her and grins. “It’s what I need you to do if you want to have ice cream later.” She grumbles but she complies and Jensen’s left in his spot on the couch. He can hear them in the background, voices muted as Jared asks if Aimee has any homework. He wonders if it’s normal to long for something that he already has.

He decides there and then that he’s going to ask.

+

Asking Chad for help isn't something he wants to do but he assumes that Sophia's excitement would probably make him even more nervous than he is. He knows how Jared feels about proposals, knows that what happened with Sarah will always be there in the background but he's hoping to replace that bitter memory with a fresh one.

One that's happier.

One that's about them.

“What do you need my help for?” Chad says blearily when Jensen shows up at his apartment. Despite the fact that it’s one in the afternoon, Chad looks like he’s just woken up. Not that it surprises him. Still, Chris isn’t really a ring kind of person and he needs help.

“You do not need my help,” Chad states when Jensen explains this to him. “Or anyone’s. He’s a mechanic. Whatever ring you get him, he probably won’t be wearing it every day. Not unless you want it to get covered in engine oil. And he doesn’t care about shit like that anyway. You could probably propose with an onion ring and he’d say yes.”

“I’m not going to propose with an _onion ring_ ,” Jensen retorts with an annoyed huff. He replays Chad’s words and freezes. “Wait – you think that he’s going to say yes?”

Chad rolls his eyes. “Duh. Now get out of my apartment. I’m tired.”

Despite Chad’s rude behaviour, Jensen knows that he’s right. Jared doesn’t care about superficial things. And Jensen doesn’t either. So in the end, he decides to go for something simple; they can always upgrade later.

Now he just needs to figure out how he’s going to ask.

+

In the end, Jared forces his hand.

“Okay, come on – out with it,” Jared says one evening. Aimee’s been in bed for a couple of hours and they’re watching some movie. Jensen doesn’t even remember the title, just that it has explosions and silly dialogue. He probably subconsciously chose something that would allow him to think. All he’s done in the past few days is _think_. The Sarah thing weighs heavily on his mind even though Jared seems to be okay with that situation now.

All Jensen’s left with now are his own misgivings and the way the ring box burns a hole in his pocket.

“What?” he asks distractedly, realising that Jared’s watching him.

Jared frowns. “Something’s up. You’ve been weird and distant for the last couple of weeks. Is everything okay at work?”

“Work is fine,” Jensen replies quickly. A little too quickly if the change in Jared’s expression is anything to go by.

“Well, what is it then?” Jared questions. “Is it _us_?”

The question trips Jensen up and he becomes flustered, says, “Yeah, it is.” He doesn’t realise how it sounds until Jared withdraws and creates space between them on the couch.

“No, wait, not in a bad way,” Jensen tries to explain. Jared doesn’t look too convinced so he reaches into his pocket and pulls out the box. “I wanted to make it all romantic and everything but I’ve been freaking out over asking.”

Jared’s eyes soften and he shifts closer. “Wow…I didn’t. Why are you freaking out?”

“You didn’t exactly welcome Sarah’s engagement with open arms,” he says. And if there’s a little bite to his tone it’s because Jared of all people should know why he’s freaking out.

Jared laughs softly. “Yeah, because she told the kid and left _us_ to answer all the questions without actually letting us know herself.”

Jensen frowns. Well. When he puts it like that…

“Now I feel kind of stupid.”

“Don’t,” Jared tells him reassuringly. “I mean, I did have the whole marriage hang up over Sarah, and some days it does pop up in my mind. But truthfully, it kind of became irrelevant the day I met you. So whenever you want to ask, my answer’s going to be yes.”

“I guess…this is me…asking?” Jensen blushes. He officially sucks at proposing. “God, this is the worst proposal in the history of proposals.”

“The wordsmith is lost for words,” Jared says with a bright grin. “I’d say that it’s pretty damn poetic. Hell, yeah, I’ll marry you.”

“Really?” Jensen has to make sure that this isn’t some kind of surreal dream. He’s definitely going to have to ask properly because his conscience won’t let up until he does.

For now, he’ll take his botched first attempt as a sign that all of his worries were futile.

“ _Yes_ ,” Jared replies emphatically. He laughs as he reaches over to grab the remote. He pauses the movie and switches the television off. “And, I don’t know about you but I’m tired, so meet me upstairs if you want to consummate this shit. If not, I’ll see you in the morning.”

It takes Jensen a while to realise that a. Jared said yes and b. He’s getting married. By then, Jared’s—waiting by the staircase.

“Thought I’d give you a minute to process everything,” he murmurs while pulling Jensen in towards him. “You done?”

“Yeah,” Jensen nods slowly. “I am. We’re…getting married!”

Jared doesn’t answer him.

Instead, he leans in and kisses Jensen, slow and sweet.

_Fin_.

 


End file.
